JUNKIE singer Pete Doherty sparked fury last night after police had to rescue a besotted 15-year-old schoolgirl from one of his concert tour buses.

Horrified parents alerted cops yesterday after their starstruck daughter failed to return from a show by druggie rocker Doherty - on-off lover of cocaine-scandal supermodel Kate Moss - and his band Babyshambles.

The impressionable 15-year-old had embarked on a 400-mile motorway journey through the night after being invited on to a tour bus used by Babyshambles crew members that followed in convoy with junkie Pete's coach.

But the teenager's disappearance - just four days after crack addict Pete, 25, ran off with a 16-year-old girl student - triggered a massive police operation.

The 15-year-old's distraught parents - aware of Doherty's horrific use of illegal drugs like heroin and crack cocaine - alerted cops after getting a mobile phone call from their daughter.

Officers rang the driver and ordered him to stop at the nearest service station and immediately remove the 15-year-old and a girl pal aged 18 from the bus FOUR HOURS after they had got on board.

The cops then raced to the service area and escorted the pair to a police station before reuniting them with their relieved parents.

Last night family organisations were appalled by the girl's experience.

Eric Hester, vice-chairman of Family and Youth Concern said: "It is every parent's nightmare. These girls might look older than their years but a 15-year-old is still a child and she should be protected."

And The People's Agony Aunt Rachael said: "This has to be the ulimate horror for parents - your teenage daughter on a bus full of roadies from a pop band headed by a self-confessed junkie."

The 15-year-old and her pal had gone to a sell-out gig by Doherty at the Fat Sams venue in Dundee, Scotland.

They climbed on board one of the Babyshambles buses believing they would get to meet their drug-loving hero, who was in another coach in front.

The schoolgirl's parents, who live in the Lochee area of Dundee, became increasingly frantic when she failed to return home in the early hours yesterday.

At 5am, after managing to speak to the girl on her mobile phone as the bus rumbled 400 miles south to the next concert venue at Sheffield, South Yorks, the terrified mum decided she had no option but to contact the police.

A massive police operation then followed involving two forces - Tayside and Strathclyde - along the M74 motorway.

Fearing for the girl's safety cops contacted the coach driver and informed him that they were aware that a girl on board the coach was a minor.

They ordered the coach driver to halt at the next service station - Abington, near Biggar on the M74.

A police spokeswoman said: "At 5.45am Strathclyde Police were called to Abington service station to assist with a missing 15-year-old girl from Dundee.

"Police contacted the bus and the girl along with an 18-year-old woman were both dropped off at Abington services.

"Only one girl had been reported missing but when officers arrived at the service area the 18-year-old female friend was also present.

"They were taken to Lanark police station until arrangements could be made to have them both brought home." Hours later the girl was reunited with her mum.

Yesterday when approached by The People at a service station on the southbound M1 the driver of the bus that carried the two girls said: "How in God's name have you heard about this so quickly?

"Yes, we did have two girls on the bus and, yes, they were dropped off at Abington. But we didn't just throw them out - we escorted them safely after being contacted by the police. They told us they were 18 and they looked it, they were just coming for the ride, there was nothing untoward about them being on the bus."

A senior Babyshambles crew member who refused to be named added: "How the f*** did you hear about this? We did not know that the youngest girl was that age."

The coach driver claimed that Doherty was unaware the 15-year-old was in his coach convoy and was livid when he found out. But both coaches stopped in at least two service stations together when members from each chatted, shopped in the garages and wandered around the car park.

The 15-year-old's parents were particularly anxious because of massive publicity earlier in the week about Doherty seducing 16-year-old student Natasha Ellis after a gig at Carlisle, Cumbria.

The debauched rocker told Natasha he could make her a star. Her disappearance on Tuesday sparked a nationwide hunt involving three police forces. Natasha was finally reunited with her tearful mum after officers swooped on Doherty's next venue at Greenock in Scotland.

On Friday night 200 fans packed into Fat Sams at Dundee to see their hero perform. The ex-Libertines singer wowed the crowd despite looking as though he had taken drugs. During the 50-minute performance he swigged bottles of beer and whacked the microphone on his head.

The rocker then held a drinking session in the club with his band mates and several groupies before continuing the marathon booze binge on his tour bus while the 15-year-old and her pal travelled in the other bus.

A spokesman for Tayside Police told The People: "At around 5am yesterday morning Tayside Police received a report that a 15-year-old girl was missing from her home in the Lochee area of Dundee. Police information revealed that the girl had boarded the Babyshambles' support tour bus which was en route to Sheffield."

Last night Doherty and the band were staying at the Hilton Hotel in Sheffield before a performance at Sheffield University tonight.

People Agony Aunt Rachael said: "This latest episode will send shivers down the spine of every mum and dad in the land. Imagine the sickening fear growing in the stomachs of that poor couple as they sat up all night wondering where their young daughter was and if she was safe.

"Most parents have been talked into letting their child go somewhere or do something because everyone else's mums are letting them.

"But even the most sensible girls can have their heads turned by a brush with fame."